It’s time to regulate guns

Dear Editor:

Thomas Daly makes a powerful argument in favor of gun ownership, regardless of their lethality (“Long live the Second Amendment,” Letters, Dec. 29, The Aspen Times). No doubt use of rocket-propelled grenades or bazookas also can be fun. Through historical references including Lybia and Syria, he suggests a scenario where Americans may need weapons to protect themselves from tyranny or just install a government more to their liking. Not so fast.

Advocating violent overthrow of our government is sedition and will get you 20 years in prison. No citizen has the right to resist law enforcement (although criminals do it all the time).

So if the sole purpose of gun ownership is sport or self-defense, why resist the simple steps needed to keep weapons from folks who have forfeited their right by reasons of mental health or criminal record?

Everybody can buy a car, but when you do, the vehicle is registered to its owner and has a VIN number. Why the resistance to this procedure in cases of guns? Many similar proposals have been advanced, but strongly resisted.

A deranged person killed 20 children in 10 minutes. If police had not arrived quickly, 20 more would have been killed. If he’d had a machete instead of the Bushmaster, it would have seriously interfered with his murderous plan.

The arms industry is a significant part of our gross domestic product. Nothing wrong with that. But reasonable regulation of this industry is needed now.

Stefan Edlis

Aspen